New study shows Connecticut made major gains in national charter law rankings

Published 9:45 am, Thursday, December 10, 2015

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Hour Letters to the Editor

New study shows Connecticut made major gains in national charter law rankings

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To the Editor:

This summer, state legislators and Governor Malloy passed new accountability measures for public charter schools. Those changes were lauded this week by a new study released by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), which annually reviews each state's charter laws and how strong they are. NACSA ranked Connecticut at 21st in the nation a big jump from 2014, when Connecticut received one the lowest scores in the country.

Primarily, the new law adds requirements around each school's "charter" the contract they have with the state that allows them to operate a school. The law requires that each public charter school's contract include academic and organizational performance goals and indicators. The annual reports charters have always submitted now include an update on how they're meeting those goals, and those goals are now a key consideration when the state decides, as they do every time a school is up for renewal, whether or not to renew a school's charter.

For many years, public charter schools and the state have set and monitored progress on academic and organizational performance goals these changes improve that process. We supported these updates and believe state leaders made smart choices through this new law.

This is good for kids, including Norwalk students, because it ensures that every public charter school in the state is high quality and stays high quality. To learn more, read NACSA's new report at www.qualitycharters.org.